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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   2275 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for May 31, 2026

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

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Are there any studies from linguists what makes the Indian accent so hard on the ears? Btw - I expect this to change in generation or two - everyone is immersed in english media now from birth, so more kids learn english simultaneously with their maternal one.

Honestly, I do think that's basically cultural prejudice. Coupled with perhaps an unusual amount of time spent with other ESL speakers.

I've known Russian professors etc. who were basically incomprehensible, the Indians have no monopoly on that. Rather that than chavvy London accents.

100% I've never had to translate a Russian accent over a shit quality phone line, while most of my formative experiences with Indian accents were telemarketers and frustrating interactions with IT/customer service. Whenever I had incomprehensible professors in college I'd just skip the lectures, and I grew up in Southern California so Hispanic accents always just sounded normal to me. Indian is the only foreign accent I consistently interact with under almost exclusively unpleasant circumstances I have no means of avoiding. We'd probably all hate Italian accents if Italy was where all the call centers were located.

100% I've never had to translate a Russian accent over a shit quality phone line,

It's not much more comprehensible in a lecture theatre.

Are we talking about Russians who live in Russia or ones who've spent some time living in the west?

I know a fair few Russians and can't say I've ever had any problems at all understanding their accent. Occasionally challenges with their English knowledge but nothing related to pronunciation.

Yeah, but I could always skip the lectures and get by spending that time in the library and relying on the TA. And since I wasn't STEM, most of my professors were home grown American communists who unfortunately were quite articulate.

I find listening to Slavs or people from post-Soviet countries speaking English quite endearing. "Why you have to be mad? Is only game!"

The flat cyrilic intonations make russian speakers incredibly easy to listen to compared to tonally variant nordic sinic and indic languages. Slavic ASMR is practically digital melatonin for my sleep cycle, but maybe the lack of comprehension helps.

It is not about comprehension. Heavy Indian accent speakers are way easier to understand than some other.

Heavy Indian accent speakers are way easier to understand than some other.

That... really hasn't been my experience. At a previous job much of the IT was outsourced to India and we always dreaded having to speak with them because it was complete crapshoot whether we could understand anything they said. We had no such problems with the ones who'd moved to Europe nor with any of the native Europeans.

French speakers from gulf of africa are on the top of my list.

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